It’s been 5 months and 16 days since my last blog and I felt it was about time I got back to writing:-).I’m actually supposed to be working on a blog for a cultural education assignment(oh yes we actually have a 2 credit course on cultural education –Welcome to Amrita-where shit happens…always :P ) but instead decided to bring back some more old memoirs of mine :D.The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least(apart from the usual “having to wake up at 8:18 to make it in time to leave the hostel by 8:37 so that I can make it into class by 8:44 :D,the football matches with the seniors where I never get to score goals cause the Amrita football team has some God damn good defenders(one day I will make it through Vinayetta(one of our few non-ragging and actually friendly seniors,also the captain of our football team)…mark my words:p,having to sit through consecutive periods of maths(where the sir is too busy admiring his math solving skill on the board to actually teach us something) followed by a period of electronics(where I’m too busy admiring my doodles on my multisubject book(one book for all subjects-less weight to carry ,even lesser to write:D)to actually listen to her,the game of catch me if you can with the seniors which more often than not ends up with me losing unfortunately :-(,and of course having to survive the mess idlis(G.d school pongal –you got competition:-)).Actually the past few weeks have been special(If the person reading this knows she is the reason for this-stop smiling-your parents must be thinking you’ve gone crazy or something :D).And as for special it brings by many memories of my school life in sharjah of course no more than my last 2 years there .
The start of the 9th grade was a turning point in my life.Thanks to msn (yes the thing we used to chat on before facebook was invented-where we used to get exicted at the sight of one friend online or 1 new mail message)(Its been around a year since I’ve last chatted ol and presently I have 8006 new messages-damn you fb:P)I actually began chatting to girls(no it was different from my imaginary conversations with pretty girls (wait you weren’t supposed to know that :P)these were actual one on one(sometimes more-Gob bless group convos where you can take time to think of something funny:-)) convos where we had a list of usual questions we ask so as to ensure we don’t end up having nothing left to say and the person had to leave(which happened a lot those days—the girls still leave these days but I think that’s cause I don’t stop talking now:P).Anyways flirting was something new and almost like rocket science back then (still is now –that’s a another matter)anyways it was around that team I received this mail from a certain koolteen_me(email id changed to protect concerned person-just kiddin-you actually think im that stupid?)..anyways it was a pretty cute mail and I was certain it was from this girl who I had a small/medium crush on(I really didn’t have anything to compare it with until recently so it was always small/medium)and I was actually funny when I replied to it(that was probably the time I started to use random brackets in between what I write which get really annoying I know but I just cant stop doing it ;-)).Anyways back to the emailing –which slowly evolved to the next step-Real time chatting(which was as big a leap from the 5th to the 6th where we learned swearing was actually cool).Anyways she and i(is that grammatically incorrect?Roo if you reading help me out here:P)had these long conversations everyday between 8 and 845 which was my stipulated time for computer usage as per guidelines set by my Dad.As the days went on things got interesting –(the period of time where both of them no they like each other but neither of them wants to sound stupid or be rejected).As for my friends (yes you shal and nav,and you too rahul sooraj and somu !) they never stopped pulling my leg and I would act all pissed(but was actually secretly proud cause I was being teased with a pretty girl:-)).Anways back to Msn it was getting perilously (Thank you Ms word for spelling that correctly) close to V-day(ah yes I can sense you guys shuddering!:P)and it was about time someone made a move .Her sister knew,My brother knew (Unfortunately they knew each other –which made things a wee bit confusing to say the least)but we still didn’t tell each other.
Feb 14th 8-44 pm-I had been sitting online for the past 45 mins and she still hadn’t come online and it was about time I left but something in the back of head told me to stay online(I get that feeling always-maybe it’s cause of the numerous head injuries I had as a child (most of you girls must know be saying-Oh that explains everything :P)anways on a more serious note –I actually had more stiches on my head than the entire United football team(bunch of losers)-I even had a nail go into my head-don’t ask me how…it just happened)…Anyways it was 45 mins past 8 and there I was going through Hi-5(now they must be jealous of fb) waiting and watching and 8th minutes later she was ol!.And she asked me something I will never forget for the rest of my life and I said yes.:-).Of course the msn emoctions helped me lot there –I didnt know what to say;-)..(Thank you Mr Bill Gates).And there I was jumping around up and down the room(Mom thought Chelsea had won a game or something) .Somu was the first one to know;-) and he was as surprised as I was :-)..and She and I had set up our first date(*statutory warning-not be done unless you’ve had previous experience (which is not possible on a first ever date I know but still :-)).Mega Mall(where else:-))—3 :00 pm top floor!.I have no idea how I made trough class that when all I could think of was what the hell am I supposed to do after getting there.Finally I made it home and after trying out three different pairs of clothes(yes boys do that too) I finally zeroed in on the perfect dress(or the least worst one whichever way you look at it:-)).After which I decided to dump atleast 100 ml of my dad’s perfume on me(told dad the rest evaporated when I left the cap open:-)) and left like a man on a mission brimming with confidence and packets of double mint chewing guide(yes I did go through the idiots guide to dating in case you thought all this was clichéd ) and I reached there with 10mins to spare telling myself bring it on!!!..and then she walked in and I could see her climbing the escalators in slow motion(well not as slow as the scene where Jaya bachan senses her son SRK (waiting to see My name is Khan !!) is in the shopping mall in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham) well it was a whole new experience (she looked gorgeous (she might disagree )…and I did the one thing that came to my mind(no I did not bend on one knee and tell her something cute-who I am some bollywood hero?)-I ran!...all the way to end of the foodcourt!I didn’t know what else to do-what was I supposed to say first?.Anways after ten minutes of hiding in the Brown ship next to the mega mall food court(miss the fishes in the roof:-() I finally came back to my senses and decided to go back .And met with her and her sister who came to drop her off and then left(after buying us a chocolate pie from Mc Donalds--Thank you divz:-)).And there I was sitting three hand lengths apart(:D-hand lengths is the unit i used to measure distance between the both of us and my favourite value was 0 hl :P) pretending to eat the the pie like it was my first meal in days(cause I forget all the convo starters I had written down and studied !so much for getting first in the 9th-you never remember the important things in life :-@).Anyways after what seemed like eternity we finally decided to take a walk around the mall(boy she walked fast ).And if things couldn’t get even worse Su was on his first date too(so there we were Su and his girl in one corner ,Me and her in the other and the guys in between smirking away to glory).After our fifth round around the same floor(I got so bored of the random occasional convos I started memorizing the shops in order-Pierre cardin after Jennifer :P) which was apparently us walkin 5 feet away from each other according to the guys who were having fun spying on us from the floor above :-@!.And finally it was time to leave and I decided to walk her back home.Around 20 m away from her house she asked to me to move ahead cause her parents could see us through the window if they were looking and there I was looking back at her as I walked off (without even a proper bye) and the moment I crossed her building I stopped –turned around and she was gone –And that was when it hit me ....I missed her already...I missed avoiding the eye contact..I missed the one mile separation....I missed everything.......And guess what I had fallen in love.
Over the course of the next few months I enjoyed every single moment I spent with her,holding her hands,passing the same shops over and over again,running away when we saw some her friends from schoo in M2l,spending time in the parking lot next to mega mall ,spending a few extra minutes with her before having to run faster than bolt so that I made it home in time for my 9:00 pm curfew and so on.My relationship with her was special till the day we finally decided it wasn’t working anymore and there I was –broken.But like they say when something special ends its just cause something even more special is about to begin.And boy was it true in my case or what .Fb asks me whats on my mind –and all I can say is her!I’ve fallen in love again and it’s a feeling I’ve missed...Here’s to hoping what we have now lasts for ever.<3.Its 10 36 pm and Moms made chicken(scarcely available in Amrita territory).So Goodnight and Goodluck™
P.s-Dedicated to the wonderful people at Airtel who came up with the Night plan and her.:-)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The 5th Penalty
So this is my first blog after I joined Amrita School of Engineering!.Room D441,3rd Floor Yagnavalkia Bhavanam(trust me the names get weirder) has become my new home :-) .The first month and a half of college has been eventful to say the least.Pretty much similar to Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone(which ironically I read for the first time just a couple of weeks back).Maybe come May 2013(Grad Day-*Hopefully*)I’ll probably have enough material to write a book of my own :P.For now this blog is about the 9 Sporting moments over the past few years that I’ll never forget .
1-Desert Storm 98-Back in the late nineties Sharjah was pretty much the cricketing hot spot.India Pakistan matches were always special and oddly enough back in those days I was a Pakistan cricket team fan :D(Aussie fan now mind you :D).Me and my bro used to play cricket inside our room with a kutti bat and a sponge ball(Dad never used to let us use tennis balls because he was scared we would break things which was true :D) and these matches used be highly competitive (We used to have a diary were we recorded each of the days events and all) and I used to represent Pakistan in those games. Anyways back to the real cricket –My uncle who works for Srilankan Airlines used to get us free tickets for all the matches and the seats used to be awesome.The corporate boxes right next to the pavilion(I have the entire zimbawean teams autograph :D)was where we would be seated for most of the games.There was this one triangular series in the latter part of 98 which featured India ,New Zealand and Australia.In the last league game of the that series India needed to beat Australia or lose to them in such a way that their net run rate was ahead of New Zealand .Australia batted first and posted 280 odd which meant we needed to score atleast 240 to make it into the finals.Back then all hope of an Indian victory rested solely on how Sachin batted.I still remember my dad would turn off the tv the moment sachin got out.However on the day Sachin didn’t disappoint.I still remember watching his game from the stands and what made that day even more special was the dust storm that hit the stadium.The entire field was covered in sand and game stopped for 25 odd mins before Sachin went on to lead India into the finals .
2-Fifa World Cup 02-Back in those days I wasn’t really a big football fan but the world cup changed that.We didn’t get the games on tv at home so I used to tag along with my Bro and his friends(which I did a lot back then)when they went to K.F.C(mmmm…) and saw the game on the big screen.I was a brazil fan back then…I even tried getting the infamous triangle haircut that Ronaldo (the less destestable one )had which my dad didn’t approve of and I ended up with no hair at all and a slightly greenish head.Anyways back to the World cup Senegal turned out to be the story of the tournament .They made it all the way to the quarters and The weird haired coach and his team was most cheered for among all the fat arabs in K.F.C(All of them taking full advantage of the “All you can eat and drink for 20 bucks”offer).Brazil eventually won it in the Finals against germany 2-0 and I guess that was probably the time I started playing football more often .
3-Cricket @ Municipality Buildings-For those who aren’t abu shagarians :-) the municipality buildings are a bunch of 3 storeyed oddly painted squarish buildings that are lined up in rows like those lego block houses .I lived in building 4 in the 1st row till the 5th grade(which the last time I saw was painted blue and yellow-the 2nd most appalling combination of colours I’ve seen-my G.D school uniform being the first).Anways the roads in between these buildings was were my brother and his gang of friends would meet up every day to play cricket.I loved playing along with them although it meant I ended being the last batsmen more often than not and got only mini overs (3 ball over :P trust me we had weird cricketing rules ).It was only later on I realized how much this helped my game.I had to make the most of any opportunity I got and playing with the big boys sure did improve my cricketing abilities .I still remember most of my bro’s friends who used to play there-(Sudeep the spinner,Lejin who hated being called chacko(I learnt that the hard way),Pradesh the funny guy,Pradin who I always got out when I bowled too,Avijith who bowls like sohail tanvir etc etc).We had some memorable moments down in that parking lot(some not so memorable as well-quite a few rear view mirrors ended up being broken there :P).The one game I remember the most was a test match were my brother and I had a partnership of around 120 runs over two days and I ended up scoring 60 odd which was great cause normally my scores were restricted to single digits :D.Plus being able to bat so long with the person who taught me how to play the game was special too .
4-Natwest Series Final-02-Matches like these were a fun filled affair cause it normally meant my parents family friends would meet up somewhere to sit and watch the game together .This time in was in Ranji uncles house which was a 10 min walk from our old place (lol apparently once when I was around 6 there was this party there and I was so irritated at how long my parents were taking to get ready I ended up walking all alone to their place which scared the hell outa my dad).Anyways the usual suspects were all present for the game including Vinuettan (Ranji uncles nephew) who I consider one of the funniest persons I’ve met to date.England posted a huge total of 325 (it was huge back then-T20 hadnt been invented yet :D) and all of us were slightly pessimistic about our chances of winning.The fact we lost 5 wickets for 140 odd runs (despite Vinuettan’s superstitions which included not changing ones seat in between overs and so on) didn’t help the cause . But Yuvraj and Kaif ended up taking us to victory in what turned out to be one of the most amazing cricket game ever played.I still remember the racket we created in the last over which led to the neighbours complaining to the watchman (who didn’t get any happier when we told him India won-he was a Pakistani :P).
5-Football On the Grass-Most of my evenings after my brother and his gang left for college was spent in Abu Shagara park playing football on the grass there (which was illegal according to the lame ass watchman there ,and all of us would run at the sight of him…cause if he caught you playing there he would puncture the football on the many date palm trees available there ).Apart from his occasional interruptions (and that of arabs who get bored and decide to thrash the life out of a random Indian playing football –not a very pretty sight trust me ) most of our games were fun filled and highly competitive . Much to the irritation of my Dad I would play without shoes and because of the broken glass pieces from soft drink bottles(again the fault of those arabs)I would end up hobbling home and bleeding all the way to Ashok Menons (My Family Doctor there who made me drink this horrible energy drink pocari sweat whenever I was down with fever ).One day I set off to play footie without shoes again at Al ittihad park the one next to Saudi mosque where one dude with a stud kicked my toe so hard it went backwards (I still cringe in pain when I think of that moment )and I ended up with a dislocated toe (which was fixed by the surgeon in the most gruesome manner ever-he pulled it till it fell back in place ) and I ended up spending one month in complete home rest.And the funniest part was my bday was spent home with my friends during this time and they ended up giving me a skate board much to the disapproval of my Dad!.
6-Challenge Café-Most of my pocket money back in the 8th and 9th grade was spent here :D.Challenge café-our gangs main hangout spot back in the days (Mega Mall and Mahatta park being the other two).Most of our time there was spent playing counter strike (the coolest game ever :D) and boy was it fun or what.Shouting our heads off warning someone that another player was approaching him with a knife from the back which got us into trouble more often than not with the management there,.During the vacations we spent a minimum of two hours either there or in Fast track (another café but much less successful and with slightly misshapen chairs).Once we had a bet with our seniors in S.I.S and we ended up winning it making a profit of 60 bucks one of my proud achievements to date (little things make me happy just in case you thought my life was pathetic):D
7-T20 India Vs Pakistan-The t20 world cup back in 07 was an amazing event I must say.The construction hats, cheer leaders, the big hitting, the cheerleaders, the close matches ,oh wait did I mention the cheer leaders ?:P it all came together in spectacular fashion in South Africa that year.The tied game between India and Pakistan was a great example of that (unfortunately I ended up not being able to watch the ending as I had an exam the next day although I did hear Ouseph -one my bro’s friends who stayed over to watch the game screaming his head off when we ran the last batsmen forcing the game into a bowl out which woke up the entire building complex:D).The Final was another spectacular game and although I was slightly disappointed Australia didn’t make it into the finals cause of their defeat to India I was totally behind the men in blue as were 5 of my bro’s college mates who turned out to watch the game and if you thought Ouseph screaming his head off was loud you should have been there (or somewhere in a 2 sq km radius area )when Shreeshanth caught the ball to win the game for India!.It was indeed a special moment for India and perhaps one of the reasons for the IPL concept to take off.(Go Royals !-Rajasthan that is…).
8-Football in the Red No10 Jersey-No no don’t worry I haven’t suddenly turned into a pool or united fan but the school football jersey does hold a special place in my heart(Not so much for its design I must say:D).It was a proud moment leading out the first ever G.D school football team and although we ended up losing 3-1 I’ll never forget that day much like how I can never forget Uranus House winning the football Trophy at Nehru Stadium.Whenever someone asks me what was most memorable about my 2 years spent in coimbatore it would have to be being part of the Uranus House and all the fun we had together(luv ya guys!) .The football match at the Nehru Stadium (an awesome place to play btw kudos to the officials there ) was another special moment we had .The first game against Jupiter(eternal rivals) was an absolute cakewalk ..we thrashed them 3-0 to make it into the finals where we faced off against Mercury(eternally last unfortunately with all due respect :D)and boy did it turn out to be one helluva of a match or what.After we scored the goal in the first half we were pegged back in our own half for most of the game and to make matters more interesting they even missed a penalty and when the final whistle blew never before have I felt so proud in my life.All of us had worked really hard for that moment and when it finally came it was Special.(Extra credit to Ambi,Gan,Niki and Nandy who cheered for us from the stands )
9-The 5th Penalty-Ever Since Jose Mourinho’s first press conference and the subsequent Barclays premier league season I have been a die hard Chelsea Fan.For me Chelsea Football Club is a very very significant part of my life.From the weird rituals while watching Chelsea games(which include the pepsi bottles ,the Chelsea shirt and the not going to the loo during the game :P) to getting irritated when Justin tv (my online tv for the games not being telecasted on the normal tv) hangs everything about the club is special for me :D.Now even my mom who had zero knowledge about the game can identify most of the Chelsea players although her pronounciation isn’t quite up to the mark(deco with an I instead of an e being the most funniest to date).So when we made it to our first champions league final in May08 it was special special occasion.I was so nervous the day of the big game and the fact that ten sports suddenly disappeared from the tv didn’t help.Finally after letting my cable operator what I thought of him with my limited tamil knowledge the channel was back on in time for kickoff.We didn’t start off well but soon as the game progressed we became better and better especially after we equalized late in the 1st half .As usual both teams were inseperable and it was tied after normal time.To add more drama to the occasion there was a scuffle between the players late in the game which ended up with Drogba getting sent off.And then came the penalty shootout.As John Terry stepped up to take the 5th kick all that separated us from the trophy was that one spot kick.And he Missed.We ended up losing the game on sudden death and much like terry I spent the whole night in tears.But as they say the show must go on and despite another set back suffered in last seasons champions league semi’s I’m 110% sure that one day that hair raising tune of the champions league will be followed in the end with Terry lifting the trophy!
There are definetly so many more sporting moments that I remember fondly –the likes of the Ashes Series 05 which was one of my favourite test series ever,The Wimbeldon finals which seem to be getting better every year,the image of Tiger Woods sinking a long putt on the final hole to win etc etc .Hopefully Chelsea pulling off a Quintuple this season will be on that list too:D.For now it’s off to my lovely bed(the one I have in the hostel sucks!).GoodNight and Goodluck™
1-Desert Storm 98-Back in the late nineties Sharjah was pretty much the cricketing hot spot.India Pakistan matches were always special and oddly enough back in those days I was a Pakistan cricket team fan :D(Aussie fan now mind you :D).Me and my bro used to play cricket inside our room with a kutti bat and a sponge ball(Dad never used to let us use tennis balls because he was scared we would break things which was true :D) and these matches used be highly competitive (We used to have a diary were we recorded each of the days events and all) and I used to represent Pakistan in those games. Anyways back to the real cricket –My uncle who works for Srilankan Airlines used to get us free tickets for all the matches and the seats used to be awesome.The corporate boxes right next to the pavilion(I have the entire zimbawean teams autograph :D)was where we would be seated for most of the games.There was this one triangular series in the latter part of 98 which featured India ,New Zealand and Australia.In the last league game of the that series India needed to beat Australia or lose to them in such a way that their net run rate was ahead of New Zealand .Australia batted first and posted 280 odd which meant we needed to score atleast 240 to make it into the finals.Back then all hope of an Indian victory rested solely on how Sachin batted.I still remember my dad would turn off the tv the moment sachin got out.However on the day Sachin didn’t disappoint.I still remember watching his game from the stands and what made that day even more special was the dust storm that hit the stadium.The entire field was covered in sand and game stopped for 25 odd mins before Sachin went on to lead India into the finals .
2-Fifa World Cup 02-Back in those days I wasn’t really a big football fan but the world cup changed that.We didn’t get the games on tv at home so I used to tag along with my Bro and his friends(which I did a lot back then)when they went to K.F.C(mmmm…) and saw the game on the big screen.I was a brazil fan back then…I even tried getting the infamous triangle haircut that Ronaldo (the less destestable one )had which my dad didn’t approve of and I ended up with no hair at all and a slightly greenish head.Anyways back to the World cup Senegal turned out to be the story of the tournament .They made it all the way to the quarters and The weird haired coach and his team was most cheered for among all the fat arabs in K.F.C(All of them taking full advantage of the “All you can eat and drink for 20 bucks”offer).Brazil eventually won it in the Finals against germany 2-0 and I guess that was probably the time I started playing football more often .
3-Cricket @ Municipality Buildings-For those who aren’t abu shagarians :-) the municipality buildings are a bunch of 3 storeyed oddly painted squarish buildings that are lined up in rows like those lego block houses .I lived in building 4 in the 1st row till the 5th grade(which the last time I saw was painted blue and yellow-the 2nd most appalling combination of colours I’ve seen-my G.D school uniform being the first).Anways the roads in between these buildings was were my brother and his gang of friends would meet up every day to play cricket.I loved playing along with them although it meant I ended being the last batsmen more often than not and got only mini overs (3 ball over :P trust me we had weird cricketing rules ).It was only later on I realized how much this helped my game.I had to make the most of any opportunity I got and playing with the big boys sure did improve my cricketing abilities .I still remember most of my bro’s friends who used to play there-(Sudeep the spinner,Lejin who hated being called chacko(I learnt that the hard way),Pradesh the funny guy,Pradin who I always got out when I bowled too,Avijith who bowls like sohail tanvir etc etc).We had some memorable moments down in that parking lot(some not so memorable as well-quite a few rear view mirrors ended up being broken there :P).The one game I remember the most was a test match were my brother and I had a partnership of around 120 runs over two days and I ended up scoring 60 odd which was great cause normally my scores were restricted to single digits :D.Plus being able to bat so long with the person who taught me how to play the game was special too .
4-Natwest Series Final-02-Matches like these were a fun filled affair cause it normally meant my parents family friends would meet up somewhere to sit and watch the game together .This time in was in Ranji uncles house which was a 10 min walk from our old place (lol apparently once when I was around 6 there was this party there and I was so irritated at how long my parents were taking to get ready I ended up walking all alone to their place which scared the hell outa my dad).Anyways the usual suspects were all present for the game including Vinuettan (Ranji uncles nephew) who I consider one of the funniest persons I’ve met to date.England posted a huge total of 325 (it was huge back then-T20 hadnt been invented yet :D) and all of us were slightly pessimistic about our chances of winning.The fact we lost 5 wickets for 140 odd runs (despite Vinuettan’s superstitions which included not changing ones seat in between overs and so on) didn’t help the cause . But Yuvraj and Kaif ended up taking us to victory in what turned out to be one of the most amazing cricket game ever played.I still remember the racket we created in the last over which led to the neighbours complaining to the watchman (who didn’t get any happier when we told him India won-he was a Pakistani :P).
5-Football On the Grass-Most of my evenings after my brother and his gang left for college was spent in Abu Shagara park playing football on the grass there (which was illegal according to the lame ass watchman there ,and all of us would run at the sight of him…cause if he caught you playing there he would puncture the football on the many date palm trees available there ).Apart from his occasional interruptions (and that of arabs who get bored and decide to thrash the life out of a random Indian playing football –not a very pretty sight trust me ) most of our games were fun filled and highly competitive . Much to the irritation of my Dad I would play without shoes and because of the broken glass pieces from soft drink bottles(again the fault of those arabs)I would end up hobbling home and bleeding all the way to Ashok Menons (My Family Doctor there who made me drink this horrible energy drink pocari sweat whenever I was down with fever ).One day I set off to play footie without shoes again at Al ittihad park the one next to Saudi mosque where one dude with a stud kicked my toe so hard it went backwards (I still cringe in pain when I think of that moment )and I ended up with a dislocated toe (which was fixed by the surgeon in the most gruesome manner ever-he pulled it till it fell back in place ) and I ended up spending one month in complete home rest.And the funniest part was my bday was spent home with my friends during this time and they ended up giving me a skate board much to the disapproval of my Dad!.
6-Challenge Café-Most of my pocket money back in the 8th and 9th grade was spent here :D.Challenge café-our gangs main hangout spot back in the days (Mega Mall and Mahatta park being the other two).Most of our time there was spent playing counter strike (the coolest game ever :D) and boy was it fun or what.Shouting our heads off warning someone that another player was approaching him with a knife from the back which got us into trouble more often than not with the management there,.During the vacations we spent a minimum of two hours either there or in Fast track (another café but much less successful and with slightly misshapen chairs).Once we had a bet with our seniors in S.I.S and we ended up winning it making a profit of 60 bucks one of my proud achievements to date (little things make me happy just in case you thought my life was pathetic):D
7-T20 India Vs Pakistan-The t20 world cup back in 07 was an amazing event I must say.The construction hats, cheer leaders, the big hitting, the cheerleaders, the close matches ,oh wait did I mention the cheer leaders ?:P it all came together in spectacular fashion in South Africa that year.The tied game between India and Pakistan was a great example of that (unfortunately I ended up not being able to watch the ending as I had an exam the next day although I did hear Ouseph -one my bro’s friends who stayed over to watch the game screaming his head off when we ran the last batsmen forcing the game into a bowl out which woke up the entire building complex:D).The Final was another spectacular game and although I was slightly disappointed Australia didn’t make it into the finals cause of their defeat to India I was totally behind the men in blue as were 5 of my bro’s college mates who turned out to watch the game and if you thought Ouseph screaming his head off was loud you should have been there (or somewhere in a 2 sq km radius area )when Shreeshanth caught the ball to win the game for India!.It was indeed a special moment for India and perhaps one of the reasons for the IPL concept to take off.(Go Royals !-Rajasthan that is…).
8-Football in the Red No10 Jersey-No no don’t worry I haven’t suddenly turned into a pool or united fan but the school football jersey does hold a special place in my heart(Not so much for its design I must say:D).It was a proud moment leading out the first ever G.D school football team and although we ended up losing 3-1 I’ll never forget that day much like how I can never forget Uranus House winning the football Trophy at Nehru Stadium.Whenever someone asks me what was most memorable about my 2 years spent in coimbatore it would have to be being part of the Uranus House and all the fun we had together(luv ya guys!) .The football match at the Nehru Stadium (an awesome place to play btw kudos to the officials there ) was another special moment we had .The first game against Jupiter(eternal rivals) was an absolute cakewalk ..we thrashed them 3-0 to make it into the finals where we faced off against Mercury(eternally last unfortunately with all due respect :D)and boy did it turn out to be one helluva of a match or what.After we scored the goal in the first half we were pegged back in our own half for most of the game and to make matters more interesting they even missed a penalty and when the final whistle blew never before have I felt so proud in my life.All of us had worked really hard for that moment and when it finally came it was Special.(Extra credit to Ambi,Gan,Niki and Nandy who cheered for us from the stands )
9-The 5th Penalty-Ever Since Jose Mourinho’s first press conference and the subsequent Barclays premier league season I have been a die hard Chelsea Fan.For me Chelsea Football Club is a very very significant part of my life.From the weird rituals while watching Chelsea games(which include the pepsi bottles ,the Chelsea shirt and the not going to the loo during the game :P) to getting irritated when Justin tv (my online tv for the games not being telecasted on the normal tv) hangs everything about the club is special for me :D.Now even my mom who had zero knowledge about the game can identify most of the Chelsea players although her pronounciation isn’t quite up to the mark(deco with an I instead of an e being the most funniest to date).So when we made it to our first champions league final in May08 it was special special occasion.I was so nervous the day of the big game and the fact that ten sports suddenly disappeared from the tv didn’t help.Finally after letting my cable operator what I thought of him with my limited tamil knowledge the channel was back on in time for kickoff.We didn’t start off well but soon as the game progressed we became better and better especially after we equalized late in the 1st half .As usual both teams were inseperable and it was tied after normal time.To add more drama to the occasion there was a scuffle between the players late in the game which ended up with Drogba getting sent off.And then came the penalty shootout.As John Terry stepped up to take the 5th kick all that separated us from the trophy was that one spot kick.And he Missed.We ended up losing the game on sudden death and much like terry I spent the whole night in tears.But as they say the show must go on and despite another set back suffered in last seasons champions league semi’s I’m 110% sure that one day that hair raising tune of the champions league will be followed in the end with Terry lifting the trophy!
There are definetly so many more sporting moments that I remember fondly –the likes of the Ashes Series 05 which was one of my favourite test series ever,The Wimbeldon finals which seem to be getting better every year,the image of Tiger Woods sinking a long putt on the final hole to win etc etc .Hopefully Chelsea pulling off a Quintuple this season will be on that list too:D.For now it’s off to my lovely bed(the one I have in the hostel sucks!).GoodNight and Goodluck™
The 10th Reason
A couple of days back when I read Waseem’s status update which said S.I.S(my old school)was to be shut down by the MOE it got me thinking.Now we all know with the influence that the Indian Association has and that the school is definitely not going to be shut down but just for the fun of it here are my 10 reasons why S.I.S shouldn’t be shut down(in no particular order)
1-Scouts and Guides
I was one of the lucky few who got to be part of the Scouts and Guides troop during my time there and trust me those three years were just amazing. The camps,the guides,the picnics,the guides,the weekly meetings oh and ya did I mention the Guides:P…it was just amazing.Even the disastrous 8th grade picnic was amusing at times.We were supposed to visit a zoo and park in Al.Ain both of which were closed and we ended up spending most of the picnic anonymously messaging the girls in the next bus ,shopping for food items in some remote shop near Al.Ain(the manager almost had a heart attack-I don’t think he has ever had to deal with 126 noisy teenagers at once ) and finally we when we did find a park that was open our great Scout master didn’t want to spend money on the entry fee and we were forced to play coco(yes we had to ) in grassy piece of land next to the parking lot of the park(that was how miserly our school could get).As for the camps the barbeque competitions,the closing ceremony with the dances and skits(yes including Sooraj’s much acclaimed Three brothers play) and so many other great memories come back to me when I think of my time in the scouts troop .
2-Raja Chips ,Mentos and Star Cokes
How can the school canteen not be part of my 10 reasons.When I was there I thought our canteen was lame but comparing it with my new school canteen(read sticky pongal ) it was great:P.My favourites in the canteen included the mentos multi flavoured candy(all of us in class would fight for the green one which was by far the best one) and twix candy bars (which they stopped for some reason).Lol I also remember the guys would flick the sandwiches under the counter when the guy wasn’t looking.The canteen people weren’t the brightest –I remember once one of my classmates cut out that picture of a 5 buck note in our U.A.E social studies text book folded it and used it to buy food for 4 of us.:P
3-The Bus Ride
Till the 8th grade I was never part of the bus ride to school.We(my bro and I) would go along with Pavan and a couple of other friends of ours in Pavans Mom’s car to school.When he left for India we had to start taking the bus to school and boy did it turn out to be awesome fun or what!There were about nine of us in the bus stop next to my place and couple of them were in the 12th then and they would have a smoke everyday before going to school .The funny part was that they would be doing that under the building right next to my dad’s car and my dad too has his smoke before he drives to the office so it was kinda weird to watch the three of them standing and smoking together (boy was my dad scared of them “influencing” me or what).We also had this ass!@#e of a conductor for about a month or so(he had many names –chacha,chotta nada santa claus etc etc.)He had the biggest attitude ever .Once he made the bus driver stop the bus in the middle of the road cause we were all making too much noise and threatened to call the head master with his(3210 phone-yes the one that looks like a walkie talkie) and all the guys in the back took out their cells and asked him for the number (the guy had a look on his face ill never forget):P
4-The Class Party
Uptill the fifth the class party was pretty much a boring affair with us having to pay some money to the teachers and they would organize everything for us (by organize I mean they would make us play silly games with even sillier gifts for the winners).But from the 6th onwards when we were allowed to collect the money and plan the whole thing out ourselves boy the parties got wild!!!.Normally I was part of the planning committee and it used to so much fun getting all the food down from pizza hut and K.f.C for the big day.Personally for me the 8th grade party was by far the best.We had the whole dance floor set up and a couple of kick ass dancers made it one heck of a party.Plus the food was great too.We usually ended our parties with a spray can fight with the other classes and we would leave the entire school covered in that white snow like stuff!
5-The wall
You know what wall I’m talking about.Like I mentioned earlier our school wasn’t co-ed but the girls were just a small wall and two buildings away from us .So during the break there would be this big rush near the wall next to the canteen from where you could see the girls(but the then headmaster nada (oh btw he’s part of my next blog-11 reasons why S.I.S should be shut down) figured this out and he made it different break times for the girls and the guys!.But still didn’t stop us from looking over the wall hoping for a girl or too
6-The Fights
The fights in S.I.S were just amazing!I mean it wasn’t just a couple of guys shouting at each other trying to look cool but the a bunch of guys whacking the crap outa each other and it would end with someone getting seriously hurt.And this would happen almost every week.I remember this one day during the break period one of the guys in my class had to go to the loo badly and all the stalls were occupied and he started banging the doors like crazy .This pissed off looking 12th grader walks out and whacks my classmate right across the face.Soon it became a 10th versus 12th fight involving almost 25 -30 people and the fight took place in my class(I wish I could say I was involved too but my chair and table were part of it though yup both of them broke as they were used during the fight!)You should have see the crowd outside the class room the entire school must have been there and the teachers couldn’t make it through to the class room and when nada turned up the crowd along with guys disappeared so fast it almost seemed like nothing had happened had it not been for the 20 odd broken chairs.
7-The Teachers
We had the weirdest ensemble of teachers in our school.From the downright Gay(Homo –Prakash) to the slightly demented (Haneef)we had them all.But having said that the weird collection of teachers did make the classes more interesting.My favourite teacher was my hindi teacher in the 6th Vasantha mam –she was nicest lady !.As for my least favourite teacher list that would take a long long time.Lol I guess Homo Prakash and his classes were the most fun .He had this thing for pinching private parts of certain guys(hence the name) and he also hated the sound of steel rulers falling(which meant we dropped them on purpose everyday).Paddu in the 8th was great too the guy spent half the time dreaming during class.
8-Inter School Competions
Back in the 8th we had this one seksii dance(credits –Somu) that we performed almost like a million times in the most weirdest of places.Of course practicing for the dance took ages since it was mainly spent playing playstation or sitting in front of the comp.We would end up doing a step a day and it took us almost a month to get the whole song done.(this one was slightly better than the practice for the “New” song dance during which the guys spent eight hours at my place and we finished one solitary step(that too a bad one) and spent the rest of the time watching hp,playing cricket in the corridor and baseball in the park with a little green plastic bat(the guys never understood the rules I tried teaching them and all we did was run around in circles looking like idiots).But despite all this we did win a couple of awards for the dance (Thirumuttam I think it was we came in 2nd):P.But it wasn’t about the awards the fun we had was just amazing!.
9-Mega Mall
For all of you who have spent their lives in S.I.S you know I had to put in mega mall in the list!.Its this mall next to our school and anytime you go there you are bound to see atleast a dozen S.I.S students walking around aimlessly especially on the top floor.We weren’t any different too .Mega Mall was like a second home for the most of us.We would sit in the food court with a collective total of hardly 20 bucks and would end up buying French fries just to able to sit there.Of course the pool tables cant be ignored as well.We would spend ages there looking absolutely ridiculous cause we didn’t know how to play it properly then!.Personally for me and many of my close friends too M2 holds a special place in our hearts cause that was where most of us had our first dates(2 of which turned to be on the same day-boy was that day confusing or what) walking around in circles aimlessly!:P
As for the 10th reason it’s you guys!.All of the wonderful things that I have enjoyed in S.I.S is cause you guys have been part of it in one way or another and I just want to thank you guys for that!So here’s to our school a place that I’m sure we will all remember with fond memories!.Its 3:32 PM and I haven’t had lunch yet.So Goodbye and Goodluck™!
1-Scouts and Guides
I was one of the lucky few who got to be part of the Scouts and Guides troop during my time there and trust me those three years were just amazing. The camps,the guides,the picnics,the guides,the weekly meetings oh and ya did I mention the Guides:P…it was just amazing.Even the disastrous 8th grade picnic was amusing at times.We were supposed to visit a zoo and park in Al.Ain both of which were closed and we ended up spending most of the picnic anonymously messaging the girls in the next bus ,shopping for food items in some remote shop near Al.Ain(the manager almost had a heart attack-I don’t think he has ever had to deal with 126 noisy teenagers at once ) and finally we when we did find a park that was open our great Scout master didn’t want to spend money on the entry fee and we were forced to play coco(yes we had to ) in grassy piece of land next to the parking lot of the park(that was how miserly our school could get).As for the camps the barbeque competitions,the closing ceremony with the dances and skits(yes including Sooraj’s much acclaimed Three brothers play) and so many other great memories come back to me when I think of my time in the scouts troop .
2-Raja Chips ,Mentos and Star Cokes
How can the school canteen not be part of my 10 reasons.When I was there I thought our canteen was lame but comparing it with my new school canteen(read sticky pongal ) it was great:P.My favourites in the canteen included the mentos multi flavoured candy(all of us in class would fight for the green one which was by far the best one) and twix candy bars (which they stopped for some reason).Lol I also remember the guys would flick the sandwiches under the counter when the guy wasn’t looking.The canteen people weren’t the brightest –I remember once one of my classmates cut out that picture of a 5 buck note in our U.A.E social studies text book folded it and used it to buy food for 4 of us.:P
3-The Bus Ride
Till the 8th grade I was never part of the bus ride to school.We(my bro and I) would go along with Pavan and a couple of other friends of ours in Pavans Mom’s car to school.When he left for India we had to start taking the bus to school and boy did it turn out to be awesome fun or what!There were about nine of us in the bus stop next to my place and couple of them were in the 12th then and they would have a smoke everyday before going to school .The funny part was that they would be doing that under the building right next to my dad’s car and my dad too has his smoke before he drives to the office so it was kinda weird to watch the three of them standing and smoking together (boy was my dad scared of them “influencing” me or what).We also had this ass!@#e of a conductor for about a month or so(he had many names –chacha,chotta nada santa claus etc etc.)He had the biggest attitude ever .Once he made the bus driver stop the bus in the middle of the road cause we were all making too much noise and threatened to call the head master with his(3210 phone-yes the one that looks like a walkie talkie) and all the guys in the back took out their cells and asked him for the number (the guy had a look on his face ill never forget):P
4-The Class Party
Uptill the fifth the class party was pretty much a boring affair with us having to pay some money to the teachers and they would organize everything for us (by organize I mean they would make us play silly games with even sillier gifts for the winners).But from the 6th onwards when we were allowed to collect the money and plan the whole thing out ourselves boy the parties got wild!!!.Normally I was part of the planning committee and it used to so much fun getting all the food down from pizza hut and K.f.C for the big day.Personally for me the 8th grade party was by far the best.We had the whole dance floor set up and a couple of kick ass dancers made it one heck of a party.Plus the food was great too.We usually ended our parties with a spray can fight with the other classes and we would leave the entire school covered in that white snow like stuff!
5-The wall
You know what wall I’m talking about.Like I mentioned earlier our school wasn’t co-ed but the girls were just a small wall and two buildings away from us .So during the break there would be this big rush near the wall next to the canteen from where you could see the girls(but the then headmaster nada (oh btw he’s part of my next blog-11 reasons why S.I.S should be shut down) figured this out and he made it different break times for the girls and the guys!.But still didn’t stop us from looking over the wall hoping for a girl or too
6-The Fights
The fights in S.I.S were just amazing!I mean it wasn’t just a couple of guys shouting at each other trying to look cool but the a bunch of guys whacking the crap outa each other and it would end with someone getting seriously hurt.And this would happen almost every week.I remember this one day during the break period one of the guys in my class had to go to the loo badly and all the stalls were occupied and he started banging the doors like crazy .This pissed off looking 12th grader walks out and whacks my classmate right across the face.Soon it became a 10th versus 12th fight involving almost 25 -30 people and the fight took place in my class(I wish I could say I was involved too but my chair and table were part of it though yup both of them broke as they were used during the fight!)You should have see the crowd outside the class room the entire school must have been there and the teachers couldn’t make it through to the class room and when nada turned up the crowd along with guys disappeared so fast it almost seemed like nothing had happened had it not been for the 20 odd broken chairs.
7-The Teachers
We had the weirdest ensemble of teachers in our school.From the downright Gay(Homo –Prakash) to the slightly demented (Haneef)we had them all.But having said that the weird collection of teachers did make the classes more interesting.My favourite teacher was my hindi teacher in the 6th Vasantha mam –she was nicest lady !.As for my least favourite teacher list that would take a long long time.Lol I guess Homo Prakash and his classes were the most fun .He had this thing for pinching private parts of certain guys(hence the name) and he also hated the sound of steel rulers falling(which meant we dropped them on purpose everyday).Paddu in the 8th was great too the guy spent half the time dreaming during class.
8-Inter School Competions
Back in the 8th we had this one seksii dance(credits –Somu) that we performed almost like a million times in the most weirdest of places.Of course practicing for the dance took ages since it was mainly spent playing playstation or sitting in front of the comp.We would end up doing a step a day and it took us almost a month to get the whole song done.(this one was slightly better than the practice for the “New” song dance during which the guys spent eight hours at my place and we finished one solitary step(that too a bad one) and spent the rest of the time watching hp,playing cricket in the corridor and baseball in the park with a little green plastic bat(the guys never understood the rules I tried teaching them and all we did was run around in circles looking like idiots).But despite all this we did win a couple of awards for the dance (Thirumuttam I think it was we came in 2nd):P.But it wasn’t about the awards the fun we had was just amazing!.
9-Mega Mall
For all of you who have spent their lives in S.I.S you know I had to put in mega mall in the list!.Its this mall next to our school and anytime you go there you are bound to see atleast a dozen S.I.S students walking around aimlessly especially on the top floor.We weren’t any different too .Mega Mall was like a second home for the most of us.We would sit in the food court with a collective total of hardly 20 bucks and would end up buying French fries just to able to sit there.Of course the pool tables cant be ignored as well.We would spend ages there looking absolutely ridiculous cause we didn’t know how to play it properly then!.Personally for me and many of my close friends too M2 holds a special place in our hearts cause that was where most of us had our first dates(2 of which turned to be on the same day-boy was that day confusing or what) walking around in circles aimlessly!:P
As for the 10th reason it’s you guys!.All of the wonderful things that I have enjoyed in S.I.S is cause you guys have been part of it in one way or another and I just want to thank you guys for that!So here’s to our school a place that I’m sure we will all remember with fond memories!.Its 3:32 PM and I haven’t had lunch yet.So Goodbye and Goodluck™!
The 18th Step
I got back home a couple of weeks back after a three day long trip to various temples across kerala which ended with the ascent of Sabarimala.I had been fasting for 16 days prior to the trip which meant no Non veg,No shaving etc etc!Lost a couple of kilos in the process and the no shaving part took away some of the “Handsomeness”(lol ya rite who am I kiddin?).Speaking of shaving that brought back a memory from class 8.My class teacher Padmanaban(Popularily known as Paddu) had this weird style of teaching.He used to take a sum ,sit and dream for ten minutes while we would be chattering away to glory and then all of a sudden as if he woke up from a bad dream he would start the next sum!Pretty funny to watch!Apparently he used to leave his tution class to go for driving classes while the students wrote the tests!(Mullti tasking at its finest one must say!).Anyways one day in the middle of all his dreaming someone started whistling in class and it sounded like a mobile ringing and Paddu suddenly came to life and decided that someone had brought a mobile to class and started an inspection of everyones bag!Poor guy got the shock of his life when he opened Tiju’s(Myclassmate) bag –the contents came out one by one –a Gillete mach 3 razor,Shaving cream,After Shave lotion and Perfume.The look on Paddus face said it all .Poor old Paddu –he had to deal with worse situations throughout the 8th grade!
Anyways back to Sabarimala Trip which started with the filling of the Keta Nara(if anyone who has made the trip sabrimala reading this please do pardon me if a make any error when it comes to the details especially since the time is 1 10 am!):P…which is the bag that u carry on your head on the way up.This was done in the temple near my Grandparents place.Oh and ya btw the people who were making the trip include my bro,cousin,a couple of uncles and 2 kids!!.So after the small ceremonial filling of the coconut with ghee [Symbolically, the ‘ghee’ in the coconut represents the ‘soul.’ And the human body is represented by the coconut!-(googled it :P)..] we were off in a rented qualis which isn’t the most comfortable vehicle specially when you have to sit in the back and the driver insisted on driving like an idiot(I’m actually being unfair ..he kept us alive after driving more than 600kms on Kerala roads-which is a big achievement!Trust me).Our first stop was the Kadampuzha temple in Kottaickal (the spellings got weirder as the journey progressed)where it started raining cats and dogs the moment we got out of our vehicles .The temple was fantastic though amazingly constructed and beautifully decorated all of which I would enjoyed more had it not been for the fact I needed to take a leak (the rain had to do something with it I guess ).So I got all wet in the rain to “water the roadside plants”(we did stop at a public toilet and I’ve never run faster out off room-the place still gives me the nightmares) and then we were off again on our way to Guruvayoor along with the rains.
Guruvayoor is a place that I’ve visited so many times.Every time we came on vacations from Sharjah my parents would make it a point to pray there and we would spend the night in a hotel there.And I used to love going to shop in those shops by the temple (Wrestling cards mainly ..lolz).This time around I didn’t get to buy them though(lol).We did visit the temple three times in all including the early morning puja which meant I had to get up by 3 30.Really pretty sight the temple with all it’s lamps lit up.After the morning puja we were off again on our way to the next temple which we reached at 6 (I forgot the name of temple though …hope my uncle isn’t reading this he made me memorise all the names and places)Having said that temple is on the banks of the backwaters and it was so picturesque with a cute bridge and this place where you get to feed huge fishes rice(I wonder how they grew so big with just rice-watever it was its definitely not fish curry (tat was a intentional vallip just in case u thought otherwise buhaha!).After that we made our way to Aryaas Kochin for breakfast!After which we visited the Chotanikkara temple there in Kochin which was kinda eerie cause they had this tree with nails stuck to it which apparently is hammered by “people haunted by evil spirits using their heads”.Gross na!.And it wasn’t jus t the one tree 3,4 of them with nails all over…gave me the creeps!!.Anways after that on the way to our next temple I was in the back of the qualis and had me eyes closed and was sitting and thinking about the 8th grade cause that was supposed to be my next blog.And boy did I come a across a memory I dint wanna remember.It was one fine day in the 8th grade .I was busy standing next to some guy in class and talking when suddenly I felt someone moving quickly behind me and the class suddenly went quiet and burst out into laughter.I fake laughed too (you know the laugh where you don’t know wats really happening),after which I looked down to see my pants were below my knees,One of my classmates had pulled it down from behind.Everyone except me found it very funny (hmmmph.. I started wearing a belt everyday from the that day forth :P ).Good thing it was a boy’s only school I studied in till the 10th.I distinctly remember opening my eyes suddenly in the back of car cause of this memory(or was it cause of the driver-the guy must have a been an ex motocross rally champion or something the way he jumped over the speed breakers).Anyways 4 temples later(which brings the total count to nine)we were finally on our way to Sabarimala.The car took us up the bigger hill until we reached the bottom of the smaller hill atop which lies Sabarimala and we had to start the arduous trek up the hill which started at the Pampa river (not the cleanest by any strech of imagination).And we were off .5 mins later we stopped!.Boy was it hard to climb the hill or what.Sharp rocks,Rain ,Wind and the steep hill not the greatest combination when you plan to go climbing especially when you have no shoes on!!.Numerous breaks followed but slowly we were making our way up surrounded by the forests and shops that sold everything from Rain coats and Glucose to pirated Cd’s and bed sheets!!(weird I wonder how the carry everything up there).Two peaks later(Neelima and Apachimedu(my spellings are way off I’m sure))it was the final stretch of flat ,muddy terrain and finally after almost 2 hours we had made to the top!.The place wasn’t crowded (it wasn’t the peak season when we went) so we were easily able to make it to the main temple which is accessible through a set of steps- 18 gold plated steps to be precise and atop those steps was Lord Ayaippan behind closed doors when we made it there.And after a wait of around 15 to 20 mins the doors opened and there I was standing right in front of the idol and I don’t know if it was the climb,the rain or the hundreds of devotees around me but when that door opened and you are standing right there the feeling is well how do you put it (hmm google says awe is good word)so awe it is!Was it a religious feeling or maybe a spiritual one I don’t know.But whatever it was it was worth visiting the tenth temple(original choice for blog title).And after a nights stay in Sabarimala and 4 visits more to the temple we were on our way back down the hill which actually was as difficult if not more than the climb up.Me and my bro made our way back to kochin on the way back in bus!And at a temple there we had the chains around our necks removed and that was that !I had visited Sabarimala!A trip I’ll remember for years to come!
Btw I kinda lost interest in the whole blogging thing for a while.I’m back now!(like Arnold in terminator 4 which I had to watch in tamil today(Don’t ask me why I’m pissed off as it is ).And also I would like to wish my Parents a very Happy 25th wedding anniversary.Luv you both.Its 2:02 am.Goodnight and Goodluck™
Anyways back to Sabarimala Trip which started with the filling of the Keta Nara(if anyone who has made the trip sabrimala reading this please do pardon me if a make any error when it comes to the details especially since the time is 1 10 am!):P…which is the bag that u carry on your head on the way up.This was done in the temple near my Grandparents place.Oh and ya btw the people who were making the trip include my bro,cousin,a couple of uncles and 2 kids!!.So after the small ceremonial filling of the coconut with ghee [Symbolically, the ‘ghee’ in the coconut represents the ‘soul.’ And the human body is represented by the coconut!-(googled it :P)..] we were off in a rented qualis which isn’t the most comfortable vehicle specially when you have to sit in the back and the driver insisted on driving like an idiot(I’m actually being unfair ..he kept us alive after driving more than 600kms on Kerala roads-which is a big achievement!Trust me).Our first stop was the Kadampuzha temple in Kottaickal (the spellings got weirder as the journey progressed)where it started raining cats and dogs the moment we got out of our vehicles .The temple was fantastic though amazingly constructed and beautifully decorated all of which I would enjoyed more had it not been for the fact I needed to take a leak (the rain had to do something with it I guess ).So I got all wet in the rain to “water the roadside plants”(we did stop at a public toilet and I’ve never run faster out off room-the place still gives me the nightmares) and then we were off again on our way to Guruvayoor along with the rains.
Guruvayoor is a place that I’ve visited so many times.Every time we came on vacations from Sharjah my parents would make it a point to pray there and we would spend the night in a hotel there.And I used to love going to shop in those shops by the temple (Wrestling cards mainly ..lolz).This time around I didn’t get to buy them though(lol).We did visit the temple three times in all including the early morning puja which meant I had to get up by 3 30.Really pretty sight the temple with all it’s lamps lit up.After the morning puja we were off again on our way to the next temple which we reached at 6 (I forgot the name of temple though …hope my uncle isn’t reading this he made me memorise all the names and places)Having said that temple is on the banks of the backwaters and it was so picturesque with a cute bridge and this place where you get to feed huge fishes rice(I wonder how they grew so big with just rice-watever it was its definitely not fish curry (tat was a intentional vallip just in case u thought otherwise buhaha!).After that we made our way to Aryaas Kochin for breakfast!After which we visited the Chotanikkara temple there in Kochin which was kinda eerie cause they had this tree with nails stuck to it which apparently is hammered by “people haunted by evil spirits using their heads”.Gross na!.And it wasn’t jus t the one tree 3,4 of them with nails all over…gave me the creeps!!.Anways after that on the way to our next temple I was in the back of the qualis and had me eyes closed and was sitting and thinking about the 8th grade cause that was supposed to be my next blog.And boy did I come a across a memory I dint wanna remember.It was one fine day in the 8th grade .I was busy standing next to some guy in class and talking when suddenly I felt someone moving quickly behind me and the class suddenly went quiet and burst out into laughter.I fake laughed too (you know the laugh where you don’t know wats really happening),after which I looked down to see my pants were below my knees,One of my classmates had pulled it down from behind.Everyone except me found it very funny (hmmmph.. I started wearing a belt everyday from the that day forth :P ).Good thing it was a boy’s only school I studied in till the 10th.I distinctly remember opening my eyes suddenly in the back of car cause of this memory(or was it cause of the driver-the guy must have a been an ex motocross rally champion or something the way he jumped over the speed breakers).Anyways 4 temples later(which brings the total count to nine)we were finally on our way to Sabarimala.The car took us up the bigger hill until we reached the bottom of the smaller hill atop which lies Sabarimala and we had to start the arduous trek up the hill which started at the Pampa river (not the cleanest by any strech of imagination).And we were off .5 mins later we stopped!.Boy was it hard to climb the hill or what.Sharp rocks,Rain ,Wind and the steep hill not the greatest combination when you plan to go climbing especially when you have no shoes on!!.Numerous breaks followed but slowly we were making our way up surrounded by the forests and shops that sold everything from Rain coats and Glucose to pirated Cd’s and bed sheets!!(weird I wonder how the carry everything up there).Two peaks later(Neelima and Apachimedu(my spellings are way off I’m sure))it was the final stretch of flat ,muddy terrain and finally after almost 2 hours we had made to the top!.The place wasn’t crowded (it wasn’t the peak season when we went) so we were easily able to make it to the main temple which is accessible through a set of steps- 18 gold plated steps to be precise and atop those steps was Lord Ayaippan behind closed doors when we made it there.And after a wait of around 15 to 20 mins the doors opened and there I was standing right in front of the idol and I don’t know if it was the climb,the rain or the hundreds of devotees around me but when that door opened and you are standing right there the feeling is well how do you put it (hmm google says awe is good word)so awe it is!Was it a religious feeling or maybe a spiritual one I don’t know.But whatever it was it was worth visiting the tenth temple(original choice for blog title).And after a nights stay in Sabarimala and 4 visits more to the temple we were on our way back down the hill which actually was as difficult if not more than the climb up.Me and my bro made our way back to kochin on the way back in bus!And at a temple there we had the chains around our necks removed and that was that !I had visited Sabarimala!A trip I’ll remember for years to come!
Btw I kinda lost interest in the whole blogging thing for a while.I’m back now!(like Arnold in terminator 4 which I had to watch in tamil today(Don’t ask me why I’m pissed off as it is ).And also I would like to wish my Parents a very Happy 25th wedding anniversary.Luv you both.Its 2:02 am.Goodnight and Goodluck™
The 7th Tent
Yes I know the title makes no sense but I’m running out of ideas for titles with numbers in them!Anyways after watching Australia getting knocked out of the ICC World T20()its back to the blogging board for me !The 7th grade much like the 6th grade was all about the scouts for me!But I did have some fun in class as well!Especially the football games we used to have among ourselves !I remember organizing this tournament among the four houses in the class .We all collected money to buy the trophies (They ran out of football trophies at the shop so the winning captain (me) got a trophy with a man playing basketball on it) that we presented ourselves with(boy till when were we so lame?)!!!The team that I was in ended up winning which wasn’t that surprising(We cheated !)..but that was nothing new so there I was holding up the basketball trophy for winning a football game proudly!!lol
Apart from the football matches the 7th grade wasn’t the greatest in terms of fun.Having Haneef sir as our math sir didn’t help .Boy was he a pain in the ass or what!The guy has the biggest attitude problem ever!(He didn’t like me that much so that didn’t help either).He could pretty much ruin the whole day for you if he is in the mood for it.Apart from his classes the rest of the teachers were comparatively better!But school was still boring and I remember telling Mom one day that I needed a break from the hectic school life(ya right…there was cricket match going on that day-India vs Aus)(Australia won that match btw!)Yay!....anways I took the day off to watch the match and guess what happens!Someone starts a fire in the school on the first floor and apparently the fire engine had to come over and put out the flames and all that drama had to happen the one day I miss school!I also remember this one P.t class (ya the one in which we had to do those ridiculous exercises in the white clothes )in which six seven of us decided not to go for class!So we hid in the classroom and removed the handle of the door on the outside so that the door could only be opened from the inside!!The plan worked for the whole of 5 mins ..apparently someone went and told Sharafuddin(yes him again) that we were hiding inside the classroom and he came over to check!I remember im staring at me through the small window in the door(he couldn’t open it remember) until someone had the courage to go open the door (wonder who it was) and he barged in waving his cane around like a madman.We ran!(not just ran ..had it been clocked we would probably have broken the records).Luckily Sharafuddin left it at that and that was the last time we ever tried bunking a P.T period!Oh and ya the 7th grade was the first time I tried shaving–I ended up with a couple of cuts on my upper lips and looked like an idiot!(people around me used worse words to describe it )
Back to the scouts-Being Assistant Troop Leader(yes the Ass-istant troop leader (for all you immature idiots who are still giggling)chuckle*….was really awesome.I got to show off a lot more than usual(not that I needed any invitation) plus I got to speak to the girls more(by got to speak I mean stare and mumble gibberish until they left).Anyways the first major event I had after being part of the quarter patrol(the one with all the leaders) was the picnic to Al Ain I think it was.It was the hottest day possible and apparently Kiri forgot to load onto to the bus the drinking water (he blamed it on us as usual) and we were dying of thirst .But even that couldn’t stop our Operation Itch*(trust me it gets worse..the names just the beginning).Abith (my troop leader)had brought along this packet which contained itching powder and we were busy trying to get it near the girls picnic spot where all the mats where!.After great planning and 4 failed attempts we finally got some sprinkled all over the mats .Amazingly none of the girls sat down on the mat except for one!Well wasn’t a girl –It was our Arch Enemy(and Kiri’s “Best” Friend )Malhotra!!!(Guides Mistress).Unfortunately the powder never worked.Pity that!..Anyways apart from that the picnic sucked(as usual) and the next big scouting event I was looking forward to was the camp that was to be held in December.And it turned out to be a blast!Being part of the Head Quarters tent gang in itself was amazing!!!(it was the closest guys tent to the girls tents .the 7th tent in fact..oh wait the title makes sence now!.)lol.We had a lot to do this time around!Although I wasn’t much of a hard worker..I still remember Ehsan would be busy doing the lashings on the sticks and I would be sitting aimlessly and when Kiri turned up I’d pretend to tie the knots just to keep him off my case!I guess it was around this time the “Gang” was slowly being formed-Ace,Shal,Somu,Naveen Sooraj ,Rahul and all!Boy it was great fun back then!.I mean we had the time of our!Getting teased with every other girl,Cracking silly jokes and getting the look,Almost losing the tug of wars competition to the “girls”(the entire conductor and driver contingent were on their team),Not having to worry about the work cause we weren’t the seniors yet!The 2nd Camp was great fun!Oh and ya it was also the first time I saw her*:-D
Till the 8th grade blog-GoodBye and GoodLuck™!
*sorry for making it like one of those serials where the story keeps dragging on and on and they come up with this attempted suspense to keep viewer engaged!(I am only 18 not 80 –at this rate the blogging thing will end in a week-so I have to drag it along a bit):-D
Apart from the football matches the 7th grade wasn’t the greatest in terms of fun.Having Haneef sir as our math sir didn’t help .Boy was he a pain in the ass or what!The guy has the biggest attitude problem ever!(He didn’t like me that much so that didn’t help either).He could pretty much ruin the whole day for you if he is in the mood for it.Apart from his classes the rest of the teachers were comparatively better!But school was still boring and I remember telling Mom one day that I needed a break from the hectic school life(ya right…there was cricket match going on that day-India vs Aus)(Australia won that match btw!)Yay!....anways I took the day off to watch the match and guess what happens!Someone starts a fire in the school on the first floor and apparently the fire engine had to come over and put out the flames and all that drama had to happen the one day I miss school!I also remember this one P.t class (ya the one in which we had to do those ridiculous exercises in the white clothes )in which six seven of us decided not to go for class!So we hid in the classroom and removed the handle of the door on the outside so that the door could only be opened from the inside!!The plan worked for the whole of 5 mins ..apparently someone went and told Sharafuddin(yes him again) that we were hiding inside the classroom and he came over to check!I remember im staring at me through the small window in the door(he couldn’t open it remember) until someone had the courage to go open the door (wonder who it was) and he barged in waving his cane around like a madman.We ran!(not just ran ..had it been clocked we would probably have broken the records).Luckily Sharafuddin left it at that and that was the last time we ever tried bunking a P.T period!Oh and ya the 7th grade was the first time I tried shaving–I ended up with a couple of cuts on my upper lips and looked like an idiot!(people around me used worse words to describe it )
Back to the scouts-Being Assistant Troop Leader(yes the Ass-istant troop leader (for all you immature idiots who are still giggling)chuckle*….was really awesome.I got to show off a lot more than usual(not that I needed any invitation) plus I got to speak to the girls more(by got to speak I mean stare and mumble gibberish until they left).Anyways the first major event I had after being part of the quarter patrol(the one with all the leaders) was the picnic to Al Ain I think it was.It was the hottest day possible and apparently Kiri forgot to load onto to the bus the drinking water (he blamed it on us as usual) and we were dying of thirst .But even that couldn’t stop our Operation Itch*(trust me it gets worse..the names just the beginning).Abith (my troop leader)had brought along this packet which contained itching powder and we were busy trying to get it near the girls picnic spot where all the mats where!.After great planning and 4 failed attempts we finally got some sprinkled all over the mats .Amazingly none of the girls sat down on the mat except for one!Well wasn’t a girl –It was our Arch Enemy(and Kiri’s “Best” Friend )Malhotra!!!(Guides Mistress).Unfortunately the powder never worked.Pity that!..Anyways apart from that the picnic sucked(as usual) and the next big scouting event I was looking forward to was the camp that was to be held in December.And it turned out to be a blast!Being part of the Head Quarters tent gang in itself was amazing!!!(it was the closest guys tent to the girls tents .the 7th tent in fact..oh wait the title makes sence now!.)lol.We had a lot to do this time around!Although I wasn’t much of a hard worker..I still remember Ehsan would be busy doing the lashings on the sticks and I would be sitting aimlessly and when Kiri turned up I’d pretend to tie the knots just to keep him off my case!I guess it was around this time the “Gang” was slowly being formed-Ace,Shal,Somu,Naveen Sooraj ,Rahul and all!Boy it was great fun back then!.I mean we had the time of our!Getting teased with every other girl,Cracking silly jokes and getting the look,Almost losing the tug of wars competition to the “girls”(the entire conductor and driver contingent were on their team),Not having to worry about the work cause we weren’t the seniors yet!The 2nd Camp was great fun!Oh and ya it was also the first time I saw her*:-D
Till the 8th grade blog-GoodBye and GoodLuck™!
*sorry for making it like one of those serials where the story keeps dragging on and on and they come up with this attempted suspense to keep viewer engaged!(I am only 18 not 80 –at this rate the blogging thing will end in a week-so I have to drag it along a bit):-D
The 6th Patrol
I’m back after the two day weekend break which was quite boring .The only highlight was watching Roger Federer win the French open(finally)!!I’ve studied French for four years now and I still couldn’t make out a word he was saying during the post match presentation!Reminded me of the good old days in S.I.S where I had to study Arabic till class 10!(I still cant say one whole sentence in Arabic!).Anyways back to the 6th grade then!6-B I was in with Bobus Mathew sir as the class teacher !He was our math sir as well so we had math every day as the first period!The guy had a thing for the math tables and he would start the class with making us all stand up and he would fire these questions at us (u know like “wats 7 times 6,8 times 12 “etc etc!) and if you don’t get it right you get pinched!Now that doesn’t sound like much but trust me the one person you don’t want to get pinched from is him!!His favourite areas include the lower butt and the arms !!(I don’t have flesh on either but it still used to hurt and the worst part was he asked me the toughest questions like whats 12 times 9 and things like that).Other than the butt pincher our other teachers were quite boring.Science period was fun occasionally especially the time when the teacher took the human anatomy lesson and we used to sit and giggle like those girls from the Disney channel shows(yes I have to sit and watch them when my younger cousins come along).Boy was I immature then!(who I am kidding I’m worse now).
Apart from the classroom drama joining the scouts was another big moment in my life.I still remember the first scout meeting on a Wednesday.I was so freaking exicted .Scouts meetings were held after class in the evening every Wednesday and I remember sitting down on the mats listening to Kiri(scout masters nickname-I actually forgot his real name).For me scouts was more than just the camps ,the picnics and the meetings..The friends I made there are the best friends I’ll ever have!In the 1st year of scouts I was part of the “Tiger”patrol(yes we were’nt that innovative with the names) which was the 6th patrol.Of the others in my patrol I remember Giby,Bahees ,Venky , Somu and Arawin!The first few months of scouts was pretty much the same for everyone!All of us would be running around trying to impress the seniors and they took advantage of it alright!Atleast until the investiture ceremony where we were officially declared as scouts!I remember it was during this investiture ceremony when we had this ridiculous play !It was about these two sets of boys –one a scouts troop and the other a bunch of normal teens who were out on a picnic who make fun of the scouts old ways and things like that.Suddenly one of the “modern” teens (me of all people) gets bit by a snake(yes yes its lame I know…my ridiculous acting skills didn’t help either) and the scouts turn up to save the day( Kiri directed it –wat did you expect?).Apart from the poorly directed plays scouts was pretty kool…mainly cause it meant we get to see the girls(guides to be exact)-(My school wasn’t co-ed so this was a big thing indeed).Having said that I wish they hadn’t been there cause the first time I attempted a conversation with them it turned out to be like one of the scenes from the movies where the hero looks stupid when he attempts to flirt with the girl he likes(in this case I was no hero just plain stupid).It took me long while to recover from that !(It took longer for the girl who I tried talking to )Anways despite all the failed attempts at flirting scouts was pretty much the best thing in my life back then!Especially the first camp held in December 02!It was amazing !From setting up the tent to not sleeping the whole night everything rocked except our group performance!You see each patrol had to perform something or the other on the final day of the camp and most of the patrols opted to dance .Our patrol on the other hand didn’t have the best movers(to put it politely).So I came up with this idea for a play!.It was supposed to be this spooky ,horror/thriller about a ghost in a building that two brothers (Somu and me )moved into!Turned up being a comedy/flop especially with the ridiculous ghost mask and swamiji(Arawin)who chased awy the evil spirits!And if you thought that was bad wait till I blog about the famous “Three Brothers” play by Sooraj and Gang in the 8th grade!.
Apart from Scouts other memories of the 6th grade include the intense football matches we used to have!. We all used to be so pumped up for these matches that most of them would end up with us fighting! I remember after this one particularly amazing game which we won I was so freaking happy that after the games period in class I was busy dancing on top of the teachers chair .Sharaffudin sir( our p.t master who later on went on to become the principal of some school)(I pity the students of that school),he saw me doing this and I got whacked so hard I actually couldn’t hear a word he was saying for the next 5 mins!.We had the weirdest games teachers I tell you!Other than that the 6th grade party class party comes to mind !It was the first class party we got to organize ourselves and we made the most of it!Anways back to scouts Geo the assistant troop leader (kinda like the vice president of scouts) told me that I would be taking his post (along with Ehsan)the next year!!which meant two things-a)I got to show off more than usual and b) it meant flirting with girls was a lot more easy the next year(pardon the chauvinistic attitude).So there I was eagerly looking forward to the 7th grade!And it was well worth the wait cause that was the first time I saw the girl that has gone on to become the most important thing in my life!
Till the 7th grade –Goodbye and Goodluck™!
(p.s from now on my blogs will be deemed fictional (by me) just in case any of my relatives are reading it)
Apart from the classroom drama joining the scouts was another big moment in my life.I still remember the first scout meeting on a Wednesday.I was so freaking exicted .Scouts meetings were held after class in the evening every Wednesday and I remember sitting down on the mats listening to Kiri(scout masters nickname-I actually forgot his real name).For me scouts was more than just the camps ,the picnics and the meetings..The friends I made there are the best friends I’ll ever have!In the 1st year of scouts I was part of the “Tiger”patrol(yes we were’nt that innovative with the names) which was the 6th patrol.Of the others in my patrol I remember Giby,Bahees ,Venky , Somu and Arawin!The first few months of scouts was pretty much the same for everyone!All of us would be running around trying to impress the seniors and they took advantage of it alright!Atleast until the investiture ceremony where we were officially declared as scouts!I remember it was during this investiture ceremony when we had this ridiculous play !It was about these two sets of boys –one a scouts troop and the other a bunch of normal teens who were out on a picnic who make fun of the scouts old ways and things like that.Suddenly one of the “modern” teens (me of all people) gets bit by a snake(yes yes its lame I know…my ridiculous acting skills didn’t help either) and the scouts turn up to save the day( Kiri directed it –wat did you expect?).Apart from the poorly directed plays scouts was pretty kool…mainly cause it meant we get to see the girls(guides to be exact)-(My school wasn’t co-ed so this was a big thing indeed).Having said that I wish they hadn’t been there cause the first time I attempted a conversation with them it turned out to be like one of the scenes from the movies where the hero looks stupid when he attempts to flirt with the girl he likes(in this case I was no hero just plain stupid).It took me long while to recover from that !(It took longer for the girl who I tried talking to )Anways despite all the failed attempts at flirting scouts was pretty much the best thing in my life back then!Especially the first camp held in December 02!It was amazing !From setting up the tent to not sleeping the whole night everything rocked except our group performance!You see each patrol had to perform something or the other on the final day of the camp and most of the patrols opted to dance .Our patrol on the other hand didn’t have the best movers(to put it politely).So I came up with this idea for a play!.It was supposed to be this spooky ,horror/thriller about a ghost in a building that two brothers (Somu and me )moved into!Turned up being a comedy/flop especially with the ridiculous ghost mask and swamiji(Arawin)who chased awy the evil spirits!And if you thought that was bad wait till I blog about the famous “Three Brothers” play by Sooraj and Gang in the 8th grade!.
Apart from Scouts other memories of the 6th grade include the intense football matches we used to have!. We all used to be so pumped up for these matches that most of them would end up with us fighting! I remember after this one particularly amazing game which we won I was so freaking happy that after the games period in class I was busy dancing on top of the teachers chair .Sharaffudin sir( our p.t master who later on went on to become the principal of some school)(I pity the students of that school),he saw me doing this and I got whacked so hard I actually couldn’t hear a word he was saying for the next 5 mins!.We had the weirdest games teachers I tell you!Other than that the 6th grade party class party comes to mind !It was the first class party we got to organize ourselves and we made the most of it!Anways back to scouts Geo the assistant troop leader (kinda like the vice president of scouts) told me that I would be taking his post (along with Ehsan)the next year!!which meant two things-a)I got to show off more than usual and b) it meant flirting with girls was a lot more easy the next year(pardon the chauvinistic attitude).So there I was eagerly looking forward to the 7th grade!And it was well worth the wait cause that was the first time I saw the girl that has gone on to become the most important thing in my life!
Till the 7th grade –Goodbye and Goodluck™!
(p.s from now on my blogs will be deemed fictional (by me) just in case any of my relatives are reading it)
The 4th Grade
Class 4-A brings back so many fond memories to me.The class was filled with the most colourful characters you would ever see in a 4th grade classroom -we had the nerds ,the gangsters (a certain Khan brother to be exact) and guys like me (just plain naughty!).4-A was a nightmare for the teachers especially for our class teacher Sajini Mam.Time and again she would have to shout at us cause all the teachers would go complain to her.The 4th Grade was also the place where we had the weirdest games.There was this one game that we played on the stage(yup that slippery thing on the football ground) where you had to throw the people of the stage and the last man standing wins -like Royal Rumble in the WWF(back then it was still wwf!).I remember all of us running like crazy to the stage when the recess bell rang!And we all had our own favourite wrestler like whom we would enter the stage (Undertaker was mine!) .So this one day during recess while we were playin the game on stage I saw this water bottle (the hard roundish one with a rope around it ) and I decided to make that my weapon.And I started swinging it around wildly and it worked –all the guys jumped off the stage and ran as fast as they could !.As for me I was dancing around in delight until I found out the actual reason for the guys to run away.Right behind me stood Nada with his cane and his usual grim look.Needless to say I got whacked!Not much of a prize for winning the royal rumble huh.
Apart from the royal rumble we had this other even more weird game –It was like this super advanced version of the usual police and thief game which I invented(yes I did!!) where you had a jail and a passport(those yellow stick on thingies that my dad used to get from the office for free.And to each passport there was picture of a cricket player stuck to it which I cut out from the paper)hard work it was!.That game also dint last long cause my dad began to realize where all the post it notes went!.But around 4 5 years later I remember Shilin my classmate in the 4th grade bringing to school the old “passport” of his with the picture of Chris Harris stuck to it!I wonder if he still has it!.Anways those were the days maan!Everything in life was so much more easier back then!.
Another fond memory of the 4th grade was that of the picnic we had in the creek park!.Now this park was right next to beach right so all the class teachers warned everyone not to go anywhere near the water.Each class was supposed to stick together and not wander off. Lol ya right like that was going to happen.We started off with a cricket game that ended after the first over when the park security came in those golf cart like thingies and took away the bats.So we decided to go exploring.And we ended up reaching this fishing spot right next to the water with steps leading into the water .So we decided to sit there inches away from the water(where we were specifically told not to go).And guess who turns up-Sajini mam our class teacher!We did the most sensible thing we could do then-We ran and all we could hear her say was:”Wait till you come to school tomorrow”!(out of the 14 of us who ran only Chirag went to school the next day –poor guy haven’t heard from him since)Lol!.I have photos of the picnic with me wearing what was once my favourite hat-the free pizza hut half soccer ball cap and all of us holding the plastic water guns we bought from the shop in the park!4-A will always hold a special place in my heart cause of the friends I made there most of whom remained friends for a long time to come!.
The move to the fifth grade was pretty big!.We were among the big boys now!No more writing with pencils(ink pens had to be used and it took a long time(and quite a few ink stains)to get used to it),More subjects,Weirder teachers etc etc!.5-C I was in ,the class near the old canteen which meant we didn’t have to run to make it to the canteen first in order to avoid being squished in between the older guys in the rush to buy Raja chips and Star cokes(which by the way tastes nothing like real coke)!.The 5th grade was also around the time when gasps of horror used to go around when anyone used a swear word even though secretly we would be like “Kewl he just swore”.We had a bunch of new teachers in 5th grade including this one teacher Lina mam I think who everyone was shit scared off!.One day during our mid term test (the 25 marks one)she was the invigilator.Science paper it was if I remember correctly.I finished the paper in around 25 mins which was quite surprising cause normally it took longer.While reading through the question paper again I realized it only had questions whose marks totaled 20 !The five mark question was missing.Impressed with my discovery I grandly got up and showed Lina mam that triumphantly when she turned the paper around and showed me two more questions on the other side of the paper!”Chammi poyi” would be an understatement to what I felt then!.Apart from that ,another memory(a better one than the chammi poyi incident) of the 5th grade was sometime in December when I saw the scout troop setting up their annual camp in the football ground!It all looked so interesting and I remember going back home telling my dad I wanted to join the scouts the next year
And I did join the Scouts troop of S.I.S the following year and the next three years changed my life forever! Until the next one –Goodbye and Goodluck™!
Apart from the royal rumble we had this other even more weird game –It was like this super advanced version of the usual police and thief game which I invented(yes I did!!) where you had a jail and a passport(those yellow stick on thingies that my dad used to get from the office for free.And to each passport there was picture of a cricket player stuck to it which I cut out from the paper)hard work it was!.That game also dint last long cause my dad began to realize where all the post it notes went!.But around 4 5 years later I remember Shilin my classmate in the 4th grade bringing to school the old “passport” of his with the picture of Chris Harris stuck to it!I wonder if he still has it!.Anways those were the days maan!Everything in life was so much more easier back then!.
Another fond memory of the 4th grade was that of the picnic we had in the creek park!.Now this park was right next to beach right so all the class teachers warned everyone not to go anywhere near the water.Each class was supposed to stick together and not wander off. Lol ya right like that was going to happen.We started off with a cricket game that ended after the first over when the park security came in those golf cart like thingies and took away the bats.So we decided to go exploring.And we ended up reaching this fishing spot right next to the water with steps leading into the water .So we decided to sit there inches away from the water(where we were specifically told not to go).And guess who turns up-Sajini mam our class teacher!We did the most sensible thing we could do then-We ran and all we could hear her say was:”Wait till you come to school tomorrow”!(out of the 14 of us who ran only Chirag went to school the next day –poor guy haven’t heard from him since)Lol!.I have photos of the picnic with me wearing what was once my favourite hat-the free pizza hut half soccer ball cap and all of us holding the plastic water guns we bought from the shop in the park!4-A will always hold a special place in my heart cause of the friends I made there most of whom remained friends for a long time to come!.
The move to the fifth grade was pretty big!.We were among the big boys now!No more writing with pencils(ink pens had to be used and it took a long time(and quite a few ink stains)to get used to it),More subjects,Weirder teachers etc etc!.5-C I was in ,the class near the old canteen which meant we didn’t have to run to make it to the canteen first in order to avoid being squished in between the older guys in the rush to buy Raja chips and Star cokes(which by the way tastes nothing like real coke)!.The 5th grade was also around the time when gasps of horror used to go around when anyone used a swear word even though secretly we would be like “Kewl he just swore”.We had a bunch of new teachers in 5th grade including this one teacher Lina mam I think who everyone was shit scared off!.One day during our mid term test (the 25 marks one)she was the invigilator.Science paper it was if I remember correctly.I finished the paper in around 25 mins which was quite surprising cause normally it took longer.While reading through the question paper again I realized it only had questions whose marks totaled 20 !The five mark question was missing.Impressed with my discovery I grandly got up and showed Lina mam that triumphantly when she turned the paper around and showed me two more questions on the other side of the paper!”Chammi poyi” would be an understatement to what I felt then!.Apart from that ,another memory(a better one than the chammi poyi incident) of the 5th grade was sometime in December when I saw the scout troop setting up their annual camp in the football ground!It all looked so interesting and I remember going back home telling my dad I wanted to join the scouts the next year
And I did join the Scouts troop of S.I.S the following year and the next three years changed my life forever! Until the next one –Goodbye and Goodluck™!
The 2nd Innings
It’s me again!(was it just me or did the computer boo when I typed that).Anyways here I go again with what has turned out to be quite an interesting job-blogging!.I think I’m getting good at this(Move over Big B and Aamir Khan).Lol .Before I get started I must thank all of you who read the first one. I hope you liked it more than my neighbour who fell asleep before he even read the introduction. I think he was trying to get me to pay him to review my blogs.
Anyways I guess I stopped with the first grade the last time right?. I must have slept a lot in the 2nd grade classroom cause I have no memory of the 2nd grade except for the game that revolutionized modern day kids games –Odd or Even(also known as Hand Cricket)!!!!..you know that game where you play cricket with your fingers .Sounds weird but it was pretty much the craze back then !.And I remember organizing a Hand Cricket world cup during English period and Vijala mam the English teacher (she always had the same “I don’t know why I am doing this look” on her face )sent me to Nada’s office and I got the usual 2 cane dosage on the lower extremities(read-whacked on butt).Oh ya btw Nada is Mr.Radhakrishnan -who currently is the junior principal or something of that sort and used to be the Head Master of S.I.S.I have no clue why he is called so ..even my parents refer to him as Nada. Anyways that was the end of the Hand Cricket World cup!.
I guess it was between the second and third grade when we went to Oman.My parents friends-my uncles and aunts ,went on a two day trip I think it was to Muscat.If I remember correctly we took a van like thing to make it there.Now this was during the month of Ramadan where you aren’t supposed to eat outside and our parents (“Our” included Gokul(Nadu) ,Roshan and Me”)kept reminding us not to eat anything and throw the wrappers out and all that.Oh and ya individually each of us were extremely naughty so when we got together it was our parents worst possible nightmare especially when they have to sit with us in a not so large van for 8 hours!.The three of us had our own little world pretty much oblivious to the surroundings!So there we were sitting in the back seat chattering away to glory,pretending to be in a race with the other cars on road (which we lost everytime cause the driver was slower than Rajni’s action scenes),eating chips etc etc.So when lunch time arrived we had to eat in the van itself since we couldn’t eat outside.Lunch on such trips were pretty much the same every single time–curd rice with pickle that you had to eat on a plastic plate with a plastic spoon and this time it was no different.So there we were sitting in the back with the plastic plates on our laps busy eating.We were quite hungry after all the pretend racing.That was when we saw this police sedan right on our tail from the window at the back and guess wat did ?.We happily turned around facing the cop staring at him while continuing to eat the curd rice!It’s a good thing he didn’t see us !.Anyways we made to Muscat that night all in one piece and stayed at a relatives place.The next day we went sight seeing –me with a ridiculous red Mickey mouse sun glass (photos show how ugly they actually are) and then went on this boating trip!.This Speed boat driver (he was fast) took us to an island off the coast and he left us there for a couple of hours after which he came and picked us up.This island was absolutely brilliant.There wasn’t a single tourist apart from us and we had a ball playin in the beach that was like exclusively for us .We also had a cricket which as usual produce more injuries than wickets our parents pretending to be jonty rhodes on the field.Great fun watching though! Lol.And that was that .The next day we went back home .The return trip wasn’t that great!We were all so tired!And the stale curd rice dint help!.But we made it home safe and sound.
After Muscat it was back to school for me!3rd grade was pretty exicting especially the hindi periods.Kamalhasan sir used to be my hindi teacher and he had this thing where the person who finishes writing whats on board first gets to monitor the rest of the class and I pretty much used to win that race all the time and I guess that screwed up my handwriting for the rest of my life !Anyways KamalHasan sir had these weird punishments where he would refer to beatings as chocolates-milky bars to be exact!I still remember the whole class used to gasp in horror when he would go”I think you all need a few milky bars”.Lame I know!.Apart from that the third grade had little drama other than the occasional visit to Nada for the worst possible reasons including shouting the prayer out too loud, talking about the video game claw(what an amazing game it was!) in class etc etc.The third grade was also the place where I had my first real fight!..actually I pushed this guy (big guy) and he pushed me back stronger and I hit the board and my lip started bleeding.Not much of a fight I know !.So I had to go to the nurse who put this purple colour paste on the lip to make it stop bleeding.Now I didn’t want my parents to know I had a fight(ok ok I’ll stop calling it a fight) so I tried wiping off the purple lip stick! It ended up lookin ten times worse and it didn’t matter anyway cause the school called up home and told my parents what happened which made my silly excuses for why I have purple lip stick on look even worse!.Before you knew it 3rd grade also came to an end!
The 4th grade was one of my top 2 classes of all time in terms of the fun I had .And there are a lot of good memories that I have of the 4th grade! So till I put them down in writing-Goodbye and Goodluck!
Anyways I guess I stopped with the first grade the last time right?. I must have slept a lot in the 2nd grade classroom cause I have no memory of the 2nd grade except for the game that revolutionized modern day kids games –Odd or Even(also known as Hand Cricket)!!!!..you know that game where you play cricket with your fingers .Sounds weird but it was pretty much the craze back then !.And I remember organizing a Hand Cricket world cup during English period and Vijala mam the English teacher (she always had the same “I don’t know why I am doing this look” on her face )sent me to Nada’s office and I got the usual 2 cane dosage on the lower extremities(read-whacked on butt).Oh ya btw Nada is Mr.Radhakrishnan -who currently is the junior principal or something of that sort and used to be the Head Master of S.I.S.I have no clue why he is called so ..even my parents refer to him as Nada. Anyways that was the end of the Hand Cricket World cup!.
I guess it was between the second and third grade when we went to Oman.My parents friends-my uncles and aunts ,went on a two day trip I think it was to Muscat.If I remember correctly we took a van like thing to make it there.Now this was during the month of Ramadan where you aren’t supposed to eat outside and our parents (“Our” included Gokul(Nadu) ,Roshan and Me”)kept reminding us not to eat anything and throw the wrappers out and all that.Oh and ya individually each of us were extremely naughty so when we got together it was our parents worst possible nightmare especially when they have to sit with us in a not so large van for 8 hours!.The three of us had our own little world pretty much oblivious to the surroundings!So there we were sitting in the back seat chattering away to glory,pretending to be in a race with the other cars on road (which we lost everytime cause the driver was slower than Rajni’s action scenes),eating chips etc etc.So when lunch time arrived we had to eat in the van itself since we couldn’t eat outside.Lunch on such trips were pretty much the same every single time–curd rice with pickle that you had to eat on a plastic plate with a plastic spoon and this time it was no different.So there we were sitting in the back with the plastic plates on our laps busy eating.We were quite hungry after all the pretend racing.That was when we saw this police sedan right on our tail from the window at the back and guess wat did ?.We happily turned around facing the cop staring at him while continuing to eat the curd rice!It’s a good thing he didn’t see us !.Anyways we made to Muscat that night all in one piece and stayed at a relatives place.The next day we went sight seeing –me with a ridiculous red Mickey mouse sun glass (photos show how ugly they actually are) and then went on this boating trip!.This Speed boat driver (he was fast) took us to an island off the coast and he left us there for a couple of hours after which he came and picked us up.This island was absolutely brilliant.There wasn’t a single tourist apart from us and we had a ball playin in the beach that was like exclusively for us .We also had a cricket which as usual produce more injuries than wickets our parents pretending to be jonty rhodes on the field.Great fun watching though! Lol.And that was that .The next day we went back home .The return trip wasn’t that great!We were all so tired!And the stale curd rice dint help!.But we made it home safe and sound.
After Muscat it was back to school for me!3rd grade was pretty exicting especially the hindi periods.Kamalhasan sir used to be my hindi teacher and he had this thing where the person who finishes writing whats on board first gets to monitor the rest of the class and I pretty much used to win that race all the time and I guess that screwed up my handwriting for the rest of my life !Anyways KamalHasan sir had these weird punishments where he would refer to beatings as chocolates-milky bars to be exact!I still remember the whole class used to gasp in horror when he would go”I think you all need a few milky bars”.Lame I know!.Apart from that the third grade had little drama other than the occasional visit to Nada for the worst possible reasons including shouting the prayer out too loud, talking about the video game claw(what an amazing game it was!) in class etc etc.The third grade was also the place where I had my first real fight!..actually I pushed this guy (big guy) and he pushed me back stronger and I hit the board and my lip started bleeding.Not much of a fight I know !.So I had to go to the nurse who put this purple colour paste on the lip to make it stop bleeding.Now I didn’t want my parents to know I had a fight(ok ok I’ll stop calling it a fight) so I tried wiping off the purple lip stick! It ended up lookin ten times worse and it didn’t matter anyway cause the school called up home and told my parents what happened which made my silly excuses for why I have purple lip stick on look even worse!.Before you knew it 3rd grade also came to an end!
The 4th grade was one of my top 2 classes of all time in terms of the fun I had .And there are a lot of good memories that I have of the 4th grade! So till I put them down in writing-Goodbye and Goodluck!
The 1st Blog
It took me 2 seconds to get the title, it’s taken another 200 to start the actual blog . This isn’t something I’ve planned to do for a long time ,it’s just one of those spur of the moment things and I hope it’ll turn outs well. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a few memories of the old-you know those things that you remind yourself of from time to time and it brings a smile to your face like the first grade fall that you had,the sixth grade footballing win, the eight grade crush etc etc…I just thought of putting those memories down in writing just for the fun of it.Now please don’t expect any fancy words or those useless parts of speech that you have to study -(God(and S.T.Coleridge) only knows why .These are just my memories the things that have made my life special for the past 17 years.
Oh and ya before I go any further, for those of you who don’t know who I am(the lucky ones –tats wat my friends call them)My name is Adarsh Unny and I’ll be turning 18 this august.Right now I live in Coimbatore –that’s where I’ve been for the past two years.I spent the first 15 years of my life in the United Arab Emirates-Sharjah to be precise,which I will always remember as My home!.
Right lets get it started shall we?..the earliest memory that I have locked up somewhere up there is that of play school –White House play school was the name(..i think).it was building number 4 in the municipality buildings in abu shagara -my building was number 5!...so u could see my house from the window of the play school…I don’t particularly remember making any friends there although there was this one kid who was ehm how do you put it ….well he was huge!!!...and the both of us used to play with those building block kinda things which by the way is still fun !!lol…apart from the building block memory the only other thing that I remember was looking through the window to see my dad when he used to come out on the balcony!...he was huge too!or maybe it was cause I was really small….anyways I spent a year there before joining gulf rose nursery which was a part of the Sharjah Indian School.Trust me I was really exicted about the first day…I have a brother Ashwin who is 5 years elder and I remember looking at him in awe when he used to put on that white and grey uniform along with the elastic grey tie …so putting on a uniform and going to school was like the ultimate fantasy then!.Having said that my mom tells me the first day of school dint go quite well for me..apparently I cried the whole day!.so much for living the ultimate fantasy huh?...anyways i don’t remember much of L.K.G apart from the slide and merry go round outside the classroom oh and ya those cartoons they used to show you in the tv room!...U.K.G was more fun though!We had this gang –the four of us Sujit,Shenoy Me and Shashank .Boy did we have fun then!..We were like four of the coolest dudes in U.KG.!!lol….anyways there was this one fair girl in our class..ok fair is actually an understatement she was white!!!...and her name was Rose and true to her name she used to turn red whenever she cried and it was really funny to watch…yes we were mean so?...lol…anyways we used to trip her every time she walked up and down the class so that she would fall cry and turn red!Not very nice I know so Rose if you are reading this sorry for everythin!hee hee….anways apart from that I remember the annual day programme where we had to wear this ridiculous bow tie kinda thing and a white shirt and black pant and we had to sing Mary and the little lamb!I have photos of that event that’s why I remember the dress so well !..oh and ya I almost got married in U.K.G …no no I have not gone crazy halfway through my blog –there was this girl who I have no memory of ,who went and told her mom that she wanted to get married to me and her mom told my mom and this whole episode was something that was used to make dull conversations more interesting whenever someone came over for many years to come ...tats why I still remember it .If there was silence when guests came over for like 2 mins or so my mom would be like “Adu has a girlfriend you know!”…how rude right?
Anyways having survived one marriage I made my way into the first grade where I had the best class teacher ever –Anita mam !She was just amazing ,I don’t even remember what she used to teach but she was simply the best.The first grade was pretty cool too .No more funny looking tight shorts,no more girls cause I shifted to the afternoon session…(well it was a good thing then you know …I was young and stupid!)…anyways I was a bit of a show off back then not that I’ve changed much now…I used to attempt daring one handed jumps off the slide onto the merry go round and when it went wrong I used to act like I just had a complex fracture or something and all the guys would be like “Wow he’s kool”..or maybe they where thinking “Wow he’s dumb” .Anyways I guess that’s when the books and the homework and everythin else associated with school life actually began!.And boy what a school life it turned out to be.
Anyways that’s all for this First Blog.To the the very few of you who actually read this far hope you enjoyed it!
And the 2nd blog should be out in a couple of days.Till then –Goodbye and Goodluck!
Oh and ya before I go any further, for those of you who don’t know who I am(the lucky ones –tats wat my friends call them)My name is Adarsh Unny and I’ll be turning 18 this august.Right now I live in Coimbatore –that’s where I’ve been for the past two years.I spent the first 15 years of my life in the United Arab Emirates-Sharjah to be precise,which I will always remember as My home!.
Right lets get it started shall we?..the earliest memory that I have locked up somewhere up there is that of play school –White House play school was the name(..i think).it was building number 4 in the municipality buildings in abu shagara -my building was number 5!...so u could see my house from the window of the play school…I don’t particularly remember making any friends there although there was this one kid who was ehm how do you put it ….well he was huge!!!...and the both of us used to play with those building block kinda things which by the way is still fun !!lol…apart from the building block memory the only other thing that I remember was looking through the window to see my dad when he used to come out on the balcony!...he was huge too!or maybe it was cause I was really small….anyways I spent a year there before joining gulf rose nursery which was a part of the Sharjah Indian School.Trust me I was really exicted about the first day…I have a brother Ashwin who is 5 years elder and I remember looking at him in awe when he used to put on that white and grey uniform along with the elastic grey tie …so putting on a uniform and going to school was like the ultimate fantasy then!.Having said that my mom tells me the first day of school dint go quite well for me..apparently I cried the whole day!.so much for living the ultimate fantasy huh?...anyways i don’t remember much of L.K.G apart from the slide and merry go round outside the classroom oh and ya those cartoons they used to show you in the tv room!...U.K.G was more fun though!We had this gang –the four of us Sujit,Shenoy Me and Shashank .Boy did we have fun then!..We were like four of the coolest dudes in U.KG.!!lol….anyways there was this one fair girl in our class..ok fair is actually an understatement she was white!!!...and her name was Rose and true to her name she used to turn red whenever she cried and it was really funny to watch…yes we were mean so?...lol…anyways we used to trip her every time she walked up and down the class so that she would fall cry and turn red!Not very nice I know so Rose if you are reading this sorry for everythin!hee hee….anways apart from that I remember the annual day programme where we had to wear this ridiculous bow tie kinda thing and a white shirt and black pant and we had to sing Mary and the little lamb!I have photos of that event that’s why I remember the dress so well !..oh and ya I almost got married in U.K.G …no no I have not gone crazy halfway through my blog –there was this girl who I have no memory of ,who went and told her mom that she wanted to get married to me and her mom told my mom and this whole episode was something that was used to make dull conversations more interesting whenever someone came over for many years to come ...tats why I still remember it .If there was silence when guests came over for like 2 mins or so my mom would be like “Adu has a girlfriend you know!”…how rude right?
Anyways having survived one marriage I made my way into the first grade where I had the best class teacher ever –Anita mam !She was just amazing ,I don’t even remember what she used to teach but she was simply the best.The first grade was pretty cool too .No more funny looking tight shorts,no more girls cause I shifted to the afternoon session…(well it was a good thing then you know …I was young and stupid!)…anyways I was a bit of a show off back then not that I’ve changed much now…I used to attempt daring one handed jumps off the slide onto the merry go round and when it went wrong I used to act like I just had a complex fracture or something and all the guys would be like “Wow he’s kool”..or maybe they where thinking “Wow he’s dumb” .Anyways I guess that’s when the books and the homework and everythin else associated with school life actually began!.And boy what a school life it turned out to be.
Anyways that’s all for this First Blog.To the the very few of you who actually read this far hope you enjoyed it!
And the 2nd blog should be out in a couple of days.Till then –Goodbye and Goodluck!
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